By Rebecca DiGirolamo
The
Southern Cross
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April 2013
Winner of the 2012 Bishop Philip Kennedy Memorial Prize
Maintaining the integrity of the ANZAC story will be the
aim of an Adelaide Catholic secondary school teacher
when he takes a group of students to Europe later this
month.
St Ignatius’ College head of geography and history
Stephen Uren has been chosen to lead six South
Australian students, including Loreto College’s Alice
O’Connell, to the battlefields of World War I in Belgium
and France as winners of the 2013 Premier’s ANZAC
Spirit School Prize.
The group, which departs on April 17 for two weeks,
will visit the graves and memorials of Australian service
men and women they researched. The students will
also take part in the ANZAC Day dawn service at Villers
Bretonneux in France.
Mr Uren and Alice will pay homage to two South
Australian soldiers who they believe help debunk social
myths surrounding our fallen soldiers.
“In our recent history, Anzac has been distorted into a
social myth that has elevated the Anzacs to demi god
status,” said Mr Uren. “This should never be the case,”
he said.
“These young men were ordinary men who did
extraordinary things and demonstrated attributes
of great bravery, sacrifice and mateship. When we
remember them we should never forget that war is a
most terrible tragedy that stole away a generation of
Australian brothers, uncles, husbands and mates.”
Mr Uren, who has also taught at Sacred Heart Middle
School and Saint Paul’s College, will trace the footsteps
of Payneham school teacher Joseph Barnes, who died
one day before the Armistice in November 1918 ended
the war. He was en-route home to Adelaide after being
wounded on the battlefields when the ship he was
travelling on was torpedoed by a German U boat. He left
behind a wife and a two-year-old daughter in Adelaide.
“It was such a tragic story,” he said. “It further drove
home the fact that these men were just ordinary men
who came from all walks of life.”
Year 11 student Alice O’Connell found an unlikely hero
after delving into her family history. She found her great,
great uncle Private Joseph Rowen had disobeyed orders
and had deserted the Australian armed services twice
during his postings to the Western Front.
“His story intrigued me because in a way it shows how
horrible the circumstances
were for soldiers and that
this (desertion) was the only
option for them and this is
how some of them coped,”
said Alice. She said Private
Rowen’s history, unknown to
her family until recently, was
“important to share” as an
example of the impact the
horrors of war had on many
soldiers and their families.
Private Rowen married and
lived in Broken Hill where
he ran a café, with a two-up
school in the rear.
HONOUR: St Ignatius’
College teacher
Stephen Uren and
Loreto College student
Alice O’Connell will
visit World War I
battlefields across
Europe later this
month.
Photo: Nat Rogers
Right: Private Joseph
Barnes, 48th Battalion
AIF, August 1917.
ANZAC
integrity
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